H50 Fic- Danny Williams, Physics Genius (2/4)
Chapter 1
Chapter Two
“Danny? Danny? Can you hear me?”
Danny groaned.
“That’s it,” Steve encouraged, squeezing Danny on the arm. “Can you open your eyes?”
Danny squinted against a bright light, shielding his eyes with his hand, and groaned again. He hurt everywhere. But at present, his head was the worst and Steve shining a light at him wasn’t helping at all. “If you want me to open my eyes, you’d better turn that thing off.”
“If I do that, I can’t gauge the reaction of your pupils,” Steve said simply.
“Of course not,” Danny complained, gearing up for a rant, but then he stopped. “Wait… where did you get that light?”
Steve was silent.
“Are you pointing your SIG at my head?” Danny asked, incredulously.
Steve at least had the decency to sound sheepish. “Well, technically, I’m pointing it at your eyes.”
“Why doesn’t that make me feel any better?”
“I’ll turn the light off once you let me take a look.”
Danny sighed and moved his hand, squinting once again against the bright light. “Are you sure you have the safety on?”
“Yes, I’m sure,” Steve said. Then he paused and shrugged noncommittally. “Well, I’m pretty sure.”
“Great,” Danny groused, “just great.” He sighed and then opened his eyes a little wider. “Let’s get this over with before you shoot me, point blank.”
“If I wanted to shoot you, I’d do it from further away,” Steve replied, conversationally, as he inspected Danny’s left pupil, then his right. “It’s easier to deny that way.”
Danny snorted. “Glad to know you’ve already given it some thought. Are we done now?”
Satisfied, Steve nodded and diverted the light away. “Yeah. We’re done.”
“Good.” Danny struggled to sit up but waved off Steve’s hand when he offered help. Once vertical, Danny leaned his back against the wall for support and closed his eyes, willing the nausea and dizziness to pass. Steve sat down beside Danny and also leaned against the wall, propping his elbow on his knee. He waited in silence, giving Danny the space he needed to adjust.
After a minute, Danny felt better and opened his eyes, and looked over at Steve. He appeared to be fine as far as Danny could tell, but with Steve it never hurt to check. “Are you ok?” Danny asked, thankful that room had stopped spinning but still waiting for his eyes to adjust to the dim light.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” Steve replied. “Jennings directed all of his anger your way.”
Danny nodded. “Glad I could take one for the team.”
Now he was able to see, he looked around the cellar and noted it was roughly an 8x10 room with a dirt ceiling and walls. The stairs, which looked like they had seen decidedly better days, were directly in front of him and led up to a set of closed, wooden cellar doors. The cellar itself contained no furniture, no shelves, and no lights. Basically, the room was a rectangular hole in the ground and nothing more.
Danny waved his hand around, airily. “Nice place you’ve got here.”
Steve shrugged. “I’ve been meaning to white-wash it, but I haven’t really had time.”
“How long have we been down here?”
“About half an hour.”
“Great. Care to tell me what happened?”
“Jennings knocked you out.”
Danny rubbed the goose egg on the side of his head and then pulled his hand away, frowning at the congealed blood. “Yeah. I got that much.”
“Then he pushed you down the stairs.”
“Well, that would explain everything else,” Danny replied, flexing his left tender elbow.
“The good news is, you’re possibly concussed, and definitely bumped and bruised, but you’re not bleeding anymore and nothing is broken. You’ll be sore for a few days but then you’ll be just fine.”
Danny scrunched up his face and looked at Steve in the dim light from the SIG, which Steve now pointed down to the floor. “And you know this how?”
“I checked you for injuries while you were out,” Steve replied, unapologetically. “Just basic field triage, nothing fancy.”
“This day just gets better and better,” Danny muttered.
Steve shrugged, not letting Danny’s obvious discomfort bother him. “That’s not the worst thing that’s happened today.”
Danny snorted. “There’s something worse than you poking and prodding me while I was asleep? That’s hard to believe.”
“Jennings buried us in here,” Steve deadpanned.
Danny was silent for a minute.
“Ok,” he finally conceded with a nod. “That is worse.”
Steve nodded. “Yes, it is. And before you ask, yes, I’ve already tried to get cell phone coverage. No bars.”
“And I’m assuming the GPS doesn’t work either?” Danny asked.
Steve shook his head. “No. GPS needs a clear line to the satellite in order to work, which we obviously don’t have.”
Danny sighed and ran his hands down the sides of his hair in frustration. “So, let me get this straight. We’ve been buried alive by a coffee farmer turned smuggler and nobody knows we are missing and we don’t have a way to contact anyone.”
Steve nodded. “Sounds about right.”
“Any other cheery news you’d care to share?”
“The cruiser we drove out here has a GPS in it. When we don’t bring the car back, Hawaii PD will come looking for us.”
“That is, unless Jennings moves the car somewhere else,” Danny added.
“True,” Steve agreed. “But I’ve been listening and I haven’t heard its motor. Besides, I don’t plan on us sticking around that long.”
“What’s your plan?”
Steve stood up and walked up to the top of the stairs, shining his SIG light at the underside of the cellar doors. “These doors are our best shot at getting out. The wood is old and starting to rot. I think if we pulled at the cross-piece here,” Steve shined his light on the piece of wood that was nailed at a diagonal on one of the doors, “then we can weaken the door enough that it will break.”
“Ok, time out.” Danny held up his hands and joined Steve on the stairs. “I thought you said Jennings buried us in here. If we do that, won’t all that dirt fall in on us?”
Steve nodded. “I’m counting on it.”
Danny stared at Steve, dumbfounded for a moment, before speaking. “You are even more insane that I thought you were.”
Steve shook his head. “No, Danny, it makes sense. If we can get one of the doors to collapse and then the other door holds steady, only half of the dirt will fall in. We should have enough space in here to funnel that dirt all the way down to the bottom of the cellar. Then, we’ll simply dig out through what’s left. It should be fairly easy.”
“And if the other door doesn’t hold?” Danny asked.
“Then we’re screwed,” Steve replied, grimly.
Danny blew out a large breath and clasped his hands together. “Ok. Well, as fun as that all sounds, I think we should stick with sitting tight and waiting for the Hawaii PD to come look for their car.”
“We can’t.”
Danny eyebrows shot up. “We can’t? And why can’t we?”
Steve refused to meet Danny’s eyes.
“Is there something you’re not telling me?” Danny asked.
Steve dragged his hand down his face in frustration before answering. “The cellar’s not that big, Danny. If it takes the police a while to notice the car is missing, there’s a good chance we’ll be out of oxygen before they get here.”
Danny stood still for a moment, absorbing the news. “Well, that is a problem. How long do you think we have?”
“I’m not sure, but my best guess is about four hours.”
Danny sighed. “And you’re sure the doors are the only way out? How about tunneling through the roof instead?”
Steve shook his head. “This cellar has been here for years, probably decades. The ground’s too packed and besides, we don’t have anything to dig with. The looser dirt on top of the doors is our best bet.”
Danny sighed again. “Sounds like we don’t have a choice, then. Let’s do this.”
Steve nodded and then moved into position at the top of the stairs, just beneath the left cellar door. He set his SIG down on the top step, pointing upward for light. Danny joined him, one stair lower, and both men reached out and grabbed a hold of the angled cross-piece on the right cellar door.
“You ready?” Steve asked.
“To throw my life away? Sure, why not?”
“Ok then. On the count of three. One, two, three.”
They both pulled as hard as they could on the cross-piece and after about thirty seconds, they were rewarded when one of the nails pulled out of the door. Steve signaled for a break and they both released their hold.
“OK,” Steve said, huffing heavily. “That went well. One or two more times should do the trick.”
Danny was breathing hard as well. “On the count of three again?”
Steve nodded and both men resumed their positions, and on the count of three, pulled again. This time, they were rewarded more quickly. A second nail popped out and the door began to sag under the weight of the dirt.
“Whoa! Back up!” Steve called, shooting his arm out to hold Danny away from the door.
The right door creaked and groaned as the rotted timber struggled to stay together. But the weight was too much and the door caved, allowing the dirt to pour in.
“See? What’d I tell you?” Steve said proudly, looking at Danny.
Danny didn’t seem to share his joy. “Um, Steve?” he said, pointing up past Steve’s head.
Steve turned to follow Danny’s finger and his eyes went wide. The left cellar door was beginning to creak and buckle as well.
“Go! Go!” Steve yelled as he turned around, pushing Danny down the stairs.
They made it halfway before the left door collapsed, sending the remaining dirt crashing down on them. When it finally settled, the mound covered not only the stairs but half of the space inside the cellar. Still more dirt blocked the hole created when the doors buckled, effectively blocking all light as well as the only way out.
This time, they really were buried.
To be continued…
Chapter Two
“Danny? Danny? Can you hear me?”
Danny groaned.
“That’s it,” Steve encouraged, squeezing Danny on the arm. “Can you open your eyes?”
Danny squinted against a bright light, shielding his eyes with his hand, and groaned again. He hurt everywhere. But at present, his head was the worst and Steve shining a light at him wasn’t helping at all. “If you want me to open my eyes, you’d better turn that thing off.”
“If I do that, I can’t gauge the reaction of your pupils,” Steve said simply.
“Of course not,” Danny complained, gearing up for a rant, but then he stopped. “Wait… where did you get that light?”
Steve was silent.
“Are you pointing your SIG at my head?” Danny asked, incredulously.
Steve at least had the decency to sound sheepish. “Well, technically, I’m pointing it at your eyes.”
“Why doesn’t that make me feel any better?”
“I’ll turn the light off once you let me take a look.”
Danny sighed and moved his hand, squinting once again against the bright light. “Are you sure you have the safety on?”
“Yes, I’m sure,” Steve said. Then he paused and shrugged noncommittally. “Well, I’m pretty sure.”
“Great,” Danny groused, “just great.” He sighed and then opened his eyes a little wider. “Let’s get this over with before you shoot me, point blank.”
“If I wanted to shoot you, I’d do it from further away,” Steve replied, conversationally, as he inspected Danny’s left pupil, then his right. “It’s easier to deny that way.”
Danny snorted. “Glad to know you’ve already given it some thought. Are we done now?”
Satisfied, Steve nodded and diverted the light away. “Yeah. We’re done.”
“Good.” Danny struggled to sit up but waved off Steve’s hand when he offered help. Once vertical, Danny leaned his back against the wall for support and closed his eyes, willing the nausea and dizziness to pass. Steve sat down beside Danny and also leaned against the wall, propping his elbow on his knee. He waited in silence, giving Danny the space he needed to adjust.
After a minute, Danny felt better and opened his eyes, and looked over at Steve. He appeared to be fine as far as Danny could tell, but with Steve it never hurt to check. “Are you ok?” Danny asked, thankful that room had stopped spinning but still waiting for his eyes to adjust to the dim light.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” Steve replied. “Jennings directed all of his anger your way.”
Danny nodded. “Glad I could take one for the team.”
Now he was able to see, he looked around the cellar and noted it was roughly an 8x10 room with a dirt ceiling and walls. The stairs, which looked like they had seen decidedly better days, were directly in front of him and led up to a set of closed, wooden cellar doors. The cellar itself contained no furniture, no shelves, and no lights. Basically, the room was a rectangular hole in the ground and nothing more.
Danny waved his hand around, airily. “Nice place you’ve got here.”
Steve shrugged. “I’ve been meaning to white-wash it, but I haven’t really had time.”
“How long have we been down here?”
“About half an hour.”
“Great. Care to tell me what happened?”
“Jennings knocked you out.”
Danny rubbed the goose egg on the side of his head and then pulled his hand away, frowning at the congealed blood. “Yeah. I got that much.”
“Then he pushed you down the stairs.”
“Well, that would explain everything else,” Danny replied, flexing his left tender elbow.
“The good news is, you’re possibly concussed, and definitely bumped and bruised, but you’re not bleeding anymore and nothing is broken. You’ll be sore for a few days but then you’ll be just fine.”
Danny scrunched up his face and looked at Steve in the dim light from the SIG, which Steve now pointed down to the floor. “And you know this how?”
“I checked you for injuries while you were out,” Steve replied, unapologetically. “Just basic field triage, nothing fancy.”
“This day just gets better and better,” Danny muttered.
Steve shrugged, not letting Danny’s obvious discomfort bother him. “That’s not the worst thing that’s happened today.”
Danny snorted. “There’s something worse than you poking and prodding me while I was asleep? That’s hard to believe.”
“Jennings buried us in here,” Steve deadpanned.
Danny was silent for a minute.
“Ok,” he finally conceded with a nod. “That is worse.”
Steve nodded. “Yes, it is. And before you ask, yes, I’ve already tried to get cell phone coverage. No bars.”
“And I’m assuming the GPS doesn’t work either?” Danny asked.
Steve shook his head. “No. GPS needs a clear line to the satellite in order to work, which we obviously don’t have.”
Danny sighed and ran his hands down the sides of his hair in frustration. “So, let me get this straight. We’ve been buried alive by a coffee farmer turned smuggler and nobody knows we are missing and we don’t have a way to contact anyone.”
Steve nodded. “Sounds about right.”
“Any other cheery news you’d care to share?”
“The cruiser we drove out here has a GPS in it. When we don’t bring the car back, Hawaii PD will come looking for us.”
“That is, unless Jennings moves the car somewhere else,” Danny added.
“True,” Steve agreed. “But I’ve been listening and I haven’t heard its motor. Besides, I don’t plan on us sticking around that long.”
“What’s your plan?”
Steve stood up and walked up to the top of the stairs, shining his SIG light at the underside of the cellar doors. “These doors are our best shot at getting out. The wood is old and starting to rot. I think if we pulled at the cross-piece here,” Steve shined his light on the piece of wood that was nailed at a diagonal on one of the doors, “then we can weaken the door enough that it will break.”
“Ok, time out.” Danny held up his hands and joined Steve on the stairs. “I thought you said Jennings buried us in here. If we do that, won’t all that dirt fall in on us?”
Steve nodded. “I’m counting on it.”
Danny stared at Steve, dumbfounded for a moment, before speaking. “You are even more insane that I thought you were.”
Steve shook his head. “No, Danny, it makes sense. If we can get one of the doors to collapse and then the other door holds steady, only half of the dirt will fall in. We should have enough space in here to funnel that dirt all the way down to the bottom of the cellar. Then, we’ll simply dig out through what’s left. It should be fairly easy.”
“And if the other door doesn’t hold?” Danny asked.
“Then we’re screwed,” Steve replied, grimly.
Danny blew out a large breath and clasped his hands together. “Ok. Well, as fun as that all sounds, I think we should stick with sitting tight and waiting for the Hawaii PD to come look for their car.”
“We can’t.”
Danny eyebrows shot up. “We can’t? And why can’t we?”
Steve refused to meet Danny’s eyes.
“Is there something you’re not telling me?” Danny asked.
Steve dragged his hand down his face in frustration before answering. “The cellar’s not that big, Danny. If it takes the police a while to notice the car is missing, there’s a good chance we’ll be out of oxygen before they get here.”
Danny stood still for a moment, absorbing the news. “Well, that is a problem. How long do you think we have?”
“I’m not sure, but my best guess is about four hours.”
Danny sighed. “And you’re sure the doors are the only way out? How about tunneling through the roof instead?”
Steve shook his head. “This cellar has been here for years, probably decades. The ground’s too packed and besides, we don’t have anything to dig with. The looser dirt on top of the doors is our best bet.”
Danny sighed again. “Sounds like we don’t have a choice, then. Let’s do this.”
Steve nodded and then moved into position at the top of the stairs, just beneath the left cellar door. He set his SIG down on the top step, pointing upward for light. Danny joined him, one stair lower, and both men reached out and grabbed a hold of the angled cross-piece on the right cellar door.
“You ready?” Steve asked.
“To throw my life away? Sure, why not?”
“Ok then. On the count of three. One, two, three.”
They both pulled as hard as they could on the cross-piece and after about thirty seconds, they were rewarded when one of the nails pulled out of the door. Steve signaled for a break and they both released their hold.
“OK,” Steve said, huffing heavily. “That went well. One or two more times should do the trick.”
Danny was breathing hard as well. “On the count of three again?”
Steve nodded and both men resumed their positions, and on the count of three, pulled again. This time, they were rewarded more quickly. A second nail popped out and the door began to sag under the weight of the dirt.
“Whoa! Back up!” Steve called, shooting his arm out to hold Danny away from the door.
The right door creaked and groaned as the rotted timber struggled to stay together. But the weight was too much and the door caved, allowing the dirt to pour in.
“See? What’d I tell you?” Steve said proudly, looking at Danny.
Danny didn’t seem to share his joy. “Um, Steve?” he said, pointing up past Steve’s head.
Steve turned to follow Danny’s finger and his eyes went wide. The left cellar door was beginning to creak and buckle as well.
“Go! Go!” Steve yelled as he turned around, pushing Danny down the stairs.
They made it halfway before the left door collapsed, sending the remaining dirt crashing down on them. When it finally settled, the mound covered not only the stairs but half of the space inside the cellar. Still more dirt blocked the hole created when the doors buckled, effectively blocking all light as well as the only way out.
This time, they really were buried.
To be continued…